Novavax's latest progress in the Covid-19 vaccine development brings optimism to the Wall Street.
Stocks surged Tuesday as positive sentiment over the reopening economy and vaccine development lifted spirits. Sales of new homes trounced expectations in April.
Novavax stock surged Tuesday after the biotech dosed the first participants in a test of its coronavirus vaccine. Meanwhile, Dow Jones giant Merck joined the fight against Covid-19.
On Tuesday, Novavax announced that it was moving forward with its clinical trials for its coronavirus vaccine. This comes as a Merck announced it would begin to develop its own vaccine with IAVI and that the company would purchase Austrian vaccine maker Themis Bioscience. Yahoo Finance’s Anjalee Khemlani joins The Final Round to break down the latest news about the coronavirus.
Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ: NVAX), which last month landed CEPI funding for its coronavirus vaccine program, announced Tuesday the initiation of human studies of its vaccine candidate, NVX-CoV2373.The Novavax Analysts Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Charles Duncan maintained an Overweight rating on Novavax with a $45 price target. B Riley FBR Mayank Mamtani reiterated a Buy rating and $53 price target.NanoFlu Efficacy Data Has Positive Readthrough For Coronavirus Vaccine, Cantor Says Despite nine other vaccines in clinical trials and 114 more in preclinical development, the efficacy component of the clinical profile of NanoFlu combined with safety enhances the conviction for 2373 and the platform more broadly, Cantor analyst Duncan said in a Tuesday note.The NanoFlu efficacy data has increased the probability of success of the coronavirus vaccine program, which likely influenced the CEPI funding, the analyst said. "Though not without clinical and commercial risk, we see potential value creation with the COVID-19 program as the CEPI funding to support vaccine development efforts represents asymmetric risk/reward with no additional burn burden for shareholders."See also: The Week Ahead In Biotech: ASCO Presentations In The Spotlight Novavax Has Become A Frontrunner, B Riley FBR Says Novavax has rapidly advanced 2373 to become one of the leading vaccine candidates in clinical testing globally, B Riley FBR's Mamtani said in a note. The analyst expects external development, including vaccine program updates from rival companies, to cause continued volatility. This could also be a potential driver to a roughly 25% retracement from the May 15 high, which in turn presents an additional opportunity to accumulate shares ahead of the 2373 preliminary Phase 1 immunogenicity and safety data in July.In the interim, Mamtani said he expects Novavax to disclose incremental preclinical data from testing in enhanced disease models.The Phase 1/2 trial consists of two phases.A randomized, observer-blinded and placebo-controlled Phase 1 trial in which 130 healthy volunteers ages 18-59 are to be enrolled to evaluate 5-microgram and 25-microgram dose levels with or without the Matrix-M adjuvant in Australia.A Phase 2 portion is to be conducted in multiple countries.Scalability and safety could emerge as the core competitive advantage, according to B Riley FBR.The high-dose cohorts in the Phase 1 trials of CanSino's Ad5 vectored COVID-19 vaccine and Moderna Inc's (NASDAQ: MRNA) mRNA-1273 posed safety considerations for the two companies to prioritize relatively lower doses in subsequent stages of clinical testing, Mamtani said. NVAX Price Action At last check, Novavax shares were advancing 3.93% to $47.92. Related Link: Generic Threat To Amarin's Vascepa Overrides Positive Sentiment On Coronavirus Announcement Latest Ratings for NVAX DateFirmActionFromTo May 2020B. Riley FBRMaintainsBuy May 2020Cantor FitzgeraldReiteratesOverweight May 2020Cantor FitzgeraldMaintainsOverweight View More Analyst Ratings for NVAX View the Latest Analyst Ratings See more from Benzinga * The Daily Biotech Pulse: FDA Nod For Roche, Arbutus Releases Positive Readout For HBV Therapy, Moderna Announces .34B Common Stock Offering * The Week Ahead In Biotech: Aquestive Awaits FDA Decision, Earnings Flow Slows * The Daily Biotech Pulse: Gilead Signs Manufacturing Deal For Remdesivir, Bristol-Myers Gets Refuse-To-File Letter(C) 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
Shares of Moderna and Novavax, which have risen on positive vaccine developments, fall sharply in late trading.
On Wednesday, Novavax announced that it would be acquiring Praha Vaccines as a way to expand its coronavirus vaccine manufacturing capacity. Yahoo Finance’s Anjalee Khemlani joins The Final Round to break down the latest news about the coronavirus.
U.S. stocks closed higher on Tuesday on optimism about the development of coronavirus vaccines and a revival of business activity, but the S&P 500 failed to hold above the key psychological level of 3,000 points. Stocks pared gains late in the session, after Bloomberg News reported the Trump administration was weighing a range of sanctions on Chinese officials, businesses and financial institutions, reinforcing comments earlier in the day from White House adviser Larry Kudlow.
The three major indexes closed in the green on Tuesday, as investors remained hopeful about coronavirus vaccine and that economies around the globe were recovering from the pandemic-driven lockdown over the past few months.
Moderna prodded a sell-off Wednesday among biotechs as investors digested a volunteer's account of systemic side effects tied to the company's experimental coronavirus vaccine.
Novavax (NVAX) on Wednesday announced the acquisition of Praha Vaccines to help the late-stage biotech company produce over 1 billion doses of its experimental Covid-19 vaccine candidate starting in 2021.The U.S. company will buy the manufacturing plant for about $167 million in an all cash transaction. Starting in 2021, the plant is expected to provide an annual capacity of over 1 billion doses of antigen for the company’s vaccine candidate, also known as NVX‑CoV2373. As part of the transaction, about 150 employees with experience in vaccine manufacturing and support will join Novavax.“Manufacturing capacity is a critical component of our strategy to deliver a vaccine for the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Stanley C. Erck, President and CEO of Novavax. “This acquisition provides the vital assets required to produce more than 1 billion doses per year. We will continue efforts to expand antigen capacity in the U.S. and Asia, and increase production of Matrix-M to match antigen capacity at multiple sites globally.”NVX‑CoV2373 consists of a stable, prefusion protein antigen made using Novavax’s proprietary nanoparticle technology and includes its proprietary Matrix‑M adjuvant. On Tuesday, Novavax announced that it is starting human testing in its Phase 1/2 clinical trial of the vaccine candidate and is expecting results in July.The Praha Vaccines acquisition is supported by a funding arrangement with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), which will help the company to expand its manufacturing capacity.As part of the deal, the biotech company will work in collaboration with the Serum Institute of India (SII) to boost production levels at the Bohumil facility by the end of 2020.Novavax’s stock has jumped 10 times in value since the start of the year and was down 5.6% trading at $45.47 as of Wednesday’s close.Following the announcement, five-star analyst Mayank Mamtani at B. Riley FBR raised the stock’s price target to $61 from $53, reflecting another 34% upside potential in the shares over the coming year.Mamtani said that he now expects earlier global market entry of the 2373 vaccine candidate as well as “model additional non-dilutive funding to further accelerate development and commercialization activities.” The analyst maintained a Buy rating on the stock.“We view this as another encouraging development providing validation to the de-risked nature of NVAX's vaccine candidate, on the basis of the most extensive/differentiated preclinical data generated to date, and now reviewed closely by global scientific community residing with CEPI, WHO, and SII as well as U.S. agencies such as CDC, NIH-NIAID, and BARDA,” Mamtani wrote in a note to investors.The rest of Wall Street analysts covering the stock in the past three months join Mamtani in their recommendation to Buy the shares. The Strong Buy consensus is backed up by 5 unanimous Buy ratings. In view of the stock’s fast rally this year, the $49.20 average price target indicates a modest 8% upside potential in the coming 12 months. (See Novavax stock analysis on TipRanks).Related News: Novavax Begins Human Testing For Covid-19 Vaccine, Expects Results In July Novavax Spikes 31% on $384 Million Cash Injection for Vaccine Production Novavax Seeks To Raise $250 Million From Share Sale; Top Analyst Bumps Up PT More recent articles from Smarter Analyst: * Logitech Shares Lifted In Pre-Market On Share Buyback Plan, 10% Dividend Boost * Billionaire Ackman Exits Berkshire Hathaway, Blackstone To Fund Opportunities * HBO Max Launches, But Not Yet Available on Amazon, Roku Platforms * Apple Snaps Up AI Startup Inductiv, As Analysts Boost PTs On Store Reopenings
The U.S. company said on Wednesday it would buy Czech Republic-based Praha Vaccines, a unit of India's Cyrus Poonawalla Group, which also owns Serum Institute, for $167 million in cash. Novavax is one of several companies in the race to develop a vaccine for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, that has no current treatment or vaccine and has already killed about 350,000 people.
May 27 (Reuters) - Drug developer Novavax Inc on Wednesday acquired Praha Vaccines, a unit of India's Cyrus Poonawalla Group, for about $167 million as it looks to boost capacity to produce its COVID-19 vaccine candidate.
After acquiring a Czech company, the clinical-stage biotech will be able to churn out more than 1 billion doses of its SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidate next year -- if it works.
Wall Street is rallying this quarter with the S&P 500 reclaiming its 3,000 level.
The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Novavax, Moderna, Pfizer, Gilead and Vir Biotechnology
The U.S. dollar fell across the board on Tuesday as optimism about a potential coronavirus vaccine and a reopening world economy helped investors shrug off U.S.-China tensions, sapping demand for safe-haven assets. The U.S. Dollar Currency Index, which measures the greenback's strength against six other major currencies, traded down 0.75% at 98.99, after slipping as low as 98.891, its weakest since May 1. The S&P 500 index briefly rose above the 3,000 level for the first time since March 5, as U.S. biotech corporation Novavax Inc became the latest company to join the race to test coronavirus vaccine candidates on humans and enrolled its first participants.
These three stocks are leaders in the fight against COVID-19 and have compelling growth prospects beyond their coronavirus programs.
Novavax, Inc. (NVAX), a late-stage biotechnology company developing next-generation vaccines for serious infectious diseases, today announced the acquisition of Praha Vaccines a.s., part of the Cyrus Poonawalla Group, in an all cash transaction of approximately $167 million. The acquisition includes a biologics manufacturing facility and associated assets in Bohumil, Czech Republic. The facility is expected to provide an annual capacity of over 1 billion doses of antigen starting in 2021 for NVX‑CoV2373, Novavax’ COVID-19 vaccine candidate.
The biotech sector remains in focus with updates on coronavirus treatments and other pipeline updates.